Motherhood. It’s a beautiful gift and a tremendous blessing from our heavenly Father. But sometimes, motherhood can seem so ordinary.

While I am not a mother, I’ve spent time with women who are, and many of the women I follow on Instagram write and post about their struggles in motherhood. I’ve come to realize that daily motherly tasks often prevent women from doing things they believe make a great impact for the kingdom of God. While artists are creating products that support uneducated women in another country, you’re washing your dishes and folding your laundry. While pastors are planting churches in unchurched cities, you’re changing diapers and training your toddlers to use a toilet. While others are hosting revivals and seeing hundreds or even thousands of people come to Christ, you’re sitting in carline for an hour every day. While missionaries are preaching the gospel to unreached people groups, you are dragging your kids to church every week kicking and screaming, sometimes literally.

Mommas – can’t you relate? Sometimes, motherhood feels ordinary, and it seems like you’re just not in a season to do anything extraordinary for God.

But the Bible teaches us differently. Over and over again, God works through the most ordinary of people to do extraordinary things. And a lot of these extra ordinary people are mothers just like you.

Sarah

Sarah (once known as Sarai) resided in Ur with her husband Abraham. As God called Abraham to move to Canaan, she followed him and remained faithful to him, even when he gave her to foreign leaders, saying she was his sister. Though God had promised that Abraham would be the father of nations, Sarah remained barren for years and years. When she was about ninety years old, God visited the couple and declared that Sarah would give birth to a son within a year. Sarah laughed! How could an old woman like her give birth?

But nothing is impossible with God, and He always keeps His promises. Sure enough, Sarah gave birth to Isaac about a year later. The old, barren woman had a baby, through whom the entire nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, would be born. She was the mother of Israel, the mother of kings, the mother of priests, the mother of prophets. And the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would come from her children.

Sarah was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Hagar

Sarah was not a perfect saint, though (none of us are!). Before she had given birth to Isaac, she was not getting pregnant and thought that maybe her husband was supposed to have a child with a different woman. That other woman was Hagar.

Hagar was Sarah’s Egyptian servant, and Sarah decided to give the young woman to her eighty-six-year-old husband. Hagar got pregnant immediately and showed contempt towards barren Sarah. Of course, Sarah became angry and was very harsh towards Hagar, so harsh that Hagar ran away.

But where could she go? She was in the middle of a wilderness. Her homeland was far away. She had no family nearby. Plus, she was pregnant. Hagar was extremely vulnerable and alone. And it was when she was so vulnerable and alone that God showed up.

The Bible tells us that the angel of the Lord found Hagar by a spring. This “angel” is often thought to be the preincarnate Christ. He encouraged Hagar to return to her masters. He had listened to her affliction and promised to multiply her offspring. Hagar obeyed the Lord, but before she returned, she gave God a new name – El Roi, the God who sees. Though she was in a very difficult circumstance, she knew that the God of Abraham saw her and would look after her.

Hagar was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Jochebed

Hundreds of years later, God had kept His promise to Abraham. He made Abraham’s descendants into a nation – Israel. Though Israel was a nation, it was not always a free nation. The people were mistreated slaves in Egypt. Yet, their affliction did not stop them from multiplying and becoming a stronger people. The Pharaoh at the time grew afraid of the Israelites and believed they would fight against Egypt and escape. So, he decreed that all Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile River.

But Jochebed would not let this happen to her baby boy. For three months after she gave birth, she was able to hide her baby, and when she could no longer hide him, she made a waterproof basket for him and laid it in the reeds of the riverbank. Her daughter watched the boy from a distance to see what would happen to him. The Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe, discovered the Hebrew child, and had pity for him.

At this point, the boy’s sister offered for her mother to nurse him while he was young. The daughter of Pharaoh agreed, so Jochebed was able to care for her son a couple years before giving him back. This baby would become Moses, the man who would lead the Israelites out of slavery and lead them to their Promised Land. 

Jochebed was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Naomi

Many years after they escaped Egypt and entered the Promised Land, Israel began following after the gods and false religions of the Canaanite tribes. They forsook their Almighty God for lesser deities and did whatever seemed best or right to them instead of obeying their heavenly Father. God would send judges to bring His people back to Him, but they would quickly fall back into sin.

It was during this time that Naomi lived in Bethlehem with her husband, Elimelech, and her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Famine broke out in the land, so Naomi’s family traveled to Moab. While they were in Moab, Elimelech died. Things got better. Both Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth, and the family lived in Moab for ten years. But then the two sons died, and Naomi was left with two distraught daughters-in-law and nobody to provide for them.

Naomi heard that the famine in Judah was over and decided to return home. She told her daughters-in-law to go back to their families, but Ruth refused. Naomi traveled back to Bethlehem with Ruth, and when they were back, she encouraged her daughter-in-law to propose to Boaz, their kinsman redeemer. Ruth married Boaz, gave birth to a son, and would later be the great grandmother of Kind David and ancestor of Jesus. If Naomi had not brought Ruth back to Israel, none of this would have happened.

Naomi was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Hannah

Shortly after Naomi’s story, another mother became distressed, not by the loss of a son, but by never being able to have a son. Hannah was married to Elkanah, who had a second wife named Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah could not get pregnant. She was barren, and Peninnah would taunt and provoke her year after year. One day, Hannah was so distressed that she went to the temple to weep and pray. She was so distraught that the priest thought she was drunk. Hannah begged God for a son and promised that, if the Lord would grant her request, she would give her son to the Lord.

God showed kindness to Hannah and gave her a son. She named the boy Samuel, and she kept her promise to God. While he was still young, she brought Samuel to the temple, to give him to the Lord. Samuel would grow up in the temple, worshipping and serving God. He would become a judge of Israel and a prophet of God, and he would anoint the first two kings of Israel.

Hannah was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Elizabeth

Hundreds of years later, Israel was no longer the kingdom it once was. the nation of Israel waited for the long-awaited Messiah to come. Many, many years had passed since God had last spoken to them, and they were looking forward to the coming of the long-awaited Messiah. They believed they needed the Messiah to defeat the Romans who were occupying their land and reestablish the kingdom of Israel. 

During this time, Zechariah, a righteous priest, entered the temple to burn incense, and an angel appeared to him and declared that his old, barren wife Elizabeth would have a son. The couple would name the son John, and the child would turn Israel back to God and prepare them for the coming Messiah. But Zechariah did not believe the angel. He and Elizabeth were old. How could they still have a child?

Sure enough, Elizabeth conceived and gave birth to John. Scripture doesn’t speak much about Elizabeth, but there are several passages about her son, who came to be known as John the Baptist. He did exactly what the angel said he would do. He preached repentance of sin, encouraged generosity, baptized people, and prepared them for Jesus Christ.

Elizabeth was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

Mary

Elizabeth had a much younger relative named Mary. Mary lived in Nazareth and was betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph. Six months after Elizabeth became pregnant, an angel also appeared to Mary. The angel told the girl that the Holy Spirit would cause her to become pregnant, even though she was a virgin, and that she would give birth to the Son of God.

Mary did give birth with her faithful husband Joseph by her side, and they named their newborn son Jesus. Mary raised the boy who would do many miracles, who would heal the sick and raise the dead, who would die for the sins of the world, and who would resurrect on the third day to give believers eternal life. Mary was the mother of the Messiah, our Lord and Savior.

Mary was extra ordinary, but God did something extraordinary through her.

You

Through Scripture, we can see that God does mighty things through ordinary women, through ordinary mothers. These seven women were not perfect. They were not more special or important than anyone else. Yet, God worked through them to build a nation, free Israel from oppressive slavery, send the Messiah to the earth, and show the world what kind of God He is.

And, sister, He can do big things through you, too! While you’re doing chores, He’s working. While you’re changing diapers, He’s working. While you’re sitting in carline, He’s working. While you’re dragging your kids to church, He’s working. Even when it seems like He’s not working, He is.

You are extra ordinary, but God can and will do extraordinary things through you to advance His kingdom.